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10 Great Quotes From Clinton Global Initiative

The annual Clinton Global Initiative meeting of global leaders from around the world, organized by former President Bill Clinton, converged in New York City over the past three days. The list of attendees was staggering and included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Chelsea Clinton, President Barack Obama, Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney, Tony Blair, Nicholas D. Kristof, Paul Farmer, and Madeleine Albright.

The theme was Designing for Impact, or how great design in all areas, from construction to phones, serves the needs of the community it was designed for. How does this translate to solving some of the world’s most pressing problems? Queen Rania of Jordan talked about the need for harnessing technological abundance we have, to discover how it can be used to create solutions rather than serve only individual needs.

Statistics kept getting thrown out, on rising health care costs, women’s rights, education, and clean energy. But I was also inspired to keep traveling, and hear how tourism continually helps developing and struggling countries find an identity and grow their economies. To continue with President Clinton’s “Case for Optimism,” I gathered 10 of the most inspirational and interesting quotes I heard during break-out sessions, speeches and discussions from some of the world’s greatest minds in politics, business, philanthropy, and more.

President Bill Clinton Opens Clinton Global Initiative 2012

1. “We live to prove that cooperation works better than conflict.” ~President Bill Clinton

2. “True transformation only comes from sustainable strategies.” ~Hillary Rodham Clinton during her Special Remarks. She goes on to say “When more women enter the workforce, it spurs innovation, increases productivity and grows economies. Families then have more money to spend, businesses can expand their consumer base and increase their profits; in short, everyone benefits.”

3. “I don’t think I’m in the basketball business, I think I’m in the business of helping families break generational cycles…as we lift, we create joy and hope.” ~John Calipari, Men’s Head Basketball Coach at the University of Kentucky

4. “I think Africa is one of the parts of the world that I’m most optimistic about. I think there is a genuine prospect of change…Today, what African countries need is partnership, they need good governance, they need quality investment, they need to move out of aid dependency. Aid has played a great part in helping those countries in many ways…[but] today, it’s about Africa doing it for itself. What they need is for us to be their partners and not their donors.” ~Tony Blair (Excerpts from Charlie Rose’s interview with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair)

5. “Today, we face a world with unprecedented challenges and complexities…But we come together knowing that the bitterness of hate is no match for the strength of love.” ~Republican Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney in his Special Remarks

6. “Our message today…to the millions around the world, is we see you. We hear you. We insist on your dignity and we share your belief that if just given the chance, you will forge a life equal to your talents and worthy of your dreams. Our fight against human trafficking is one of the great human rights causes of our time and the United States will continue to lead it, in partnership with you.” ~President Barack Obama in his Special Remarks

7. “Optimism is a mix of pragmatism, focused on real solutions, like what we spend a lot of time here at CGI discussing, and also big dreams and radical ideas.” ~Chelsea Clinton while moderating a breakout session called “The Case for Optimism”

8. “We’re seeing a technological innovation that is only accelerating, and we’re seeing the power of the Internet to tap the vast human potential to solve these great problems. I look at platforms like Kiva, which have channeled $300 million into micro-finance. Kickstarter put more money into the arts than the National Endowment of the Arts last year.” ~Billy Parish, President of Mosaic

9. “Teachers should act more like a moderator, teaching kids how to think and how to innovate. We have access to thousands of bits of information, millions, but why memorize something that you can just look up in 3 seconds? No, you should know how to use that information…it’s regurgitation that is kind of killing us.” ~Jack Andraka, 15-year-old cancer researcher known for developing new method for detecting pancreatic cancer

10. “Participants in CGI don’t accept poverty and other plagues as inevitable. We look for ways to achieve what others say can’t be done. Instead of placing our fingers in the air to determine which way the wind is blowing, we enlist the help of others to change the direction of the wind.” ~Madeleine Albright

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